Handful of GM candidates in Chargers' mix

Jimmy Raye will be interviewed this week as a candidate to fill the Chargers’ vacancy at general manager.

But as has been the plan all along, the team’s current director of player personnel will not be the only candidate.

The team has received permission to interview at least three other personnel men around the league, said a source familiar with the search. A fourth man, Matt Russell, Broncos director of player personnel and top assistant to executive vice president of football operations John Elway, declined its interview request.

The number of known outside candidates for the Chargers’ GM position is four when including Tom Telesco, the Colts’ vice president of football operations who will reportedly interview for the position.

The others are 49ers Director of Player Personnel Tom Gamble, Falcons Director of Player Personnel David Caldwell, and Cardinals Vice President of Player Personnel Steve Keim.

All four received promotions before the season.

Consent letters to interview them were sent out to their teams Monday.

Gamble, son of former Eagles president and GM Harry Gamble, grew up around the game and has a well-rounded portfolio, including experience in pro scouting, college scouting, NFL coaching and contract negotiations, that makes him an intriguing candidate around the league. He is in his 24th NFL season.

Last April, the 49ers promoted him from his position as director of pro personnel.

While Gamble is a regarded candidate among NFL executives, Chargers President Dean Spanos wouldn’t say Monday if he’d be here, citing the privacy of the process.

“I’m not going to give out any names, but you can clearly see why,” Spanos said. “There’s so many teams looking for general managers and coaches. It could be a disadvantage to give out all your names.”

Caldwell carries a heavy scouting background and has worked as a close confidant of Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff in the team’s daily roster operation. He previously served as the Falcons’ director of college scouting. Caldwell spent 10 of his 15 NFL seasons with the Colts as a scout, in charge of the western college region in 2006-07. He oversees the pro and college scouting departments.

Keim has been with the Cardinals the past 14 years, arriving in 1999 as a regional scout. He became the franchise’s director of college scouting in 2006 and director of player personnel in 2008. A former three-year starter at guard at N.C. State, the alma mater of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, Keim now assists in contact negotiations and coordinates the pro and college scouting departments.

Telesco joined the Colts in 1998 as an area scout. He became a pro scout in 2001, climbing up to director of pro scouting in 2004 and director of player personnel in 2005 before being promoted last February to VP of football operations.

Spanos fired General Manager A.J. Smith on Monday as well as head coach Norv Turner.

Spanos will decide the next GM, but son John Spanos, Chargers director of college scouting, Ed McGuire, assistant general manager, and Ron Wolf, a former Packers general manager whom Spanos hired as a consultant in the searches, will assist.